After the success with the new generation antidepressants

The introduction of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has entailed a revolution in the understanding and treatment of depression and other mood disorders. Despite the extended use of the SSRIs the social and scientific implications of this revolution is conspicuously poorly researched. The purpose of this project is thus to explore the complex changes brought about by the ‘SSRI revolution’ from an intersectional and multi-sited perspective.

The project particularly focuses on understandings of the self and on experiences, practices, biomedical knowledge production and discourses related to depression and medication. The project applies an explorative and interdisciplinary approach. It involves researchers in science and technology studies (STS), gender studies, developmental biology and cultural studies and thus bridges the epistemological gap between the natural sciences and the social sciences/humanities.

The project is multi-sited and focuses on four themes:

the everyday experiences of patients/users of SSRI;

the clinical practices and professional experiences of primary care physicians that meet and treat these patients;

the developments and changes in the production of biomedical knowledge on brains and SSRIs as well as its dissemination into clinical practice; and

the discursive construction of the self, depression and SSRI-usage in policy and public debate. The empirical material will mainly consist of interviews and written documents.

MulinariS (2015) Divergence and convergence of commercial and scientific priorities in drug development: the case of Zelmid, the first SSRI antidepressant. Social Science & Medicine. doi.10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.06.020